Search form

Search form

A study that looked at tests from 300 U.S. labs found community-acquired MRSA made up 28.2% of resistant staph infections in 2006, up from 3.6% in 1999. Researchers also found that more than half of all staph cases seen at the labs serving hospitals are immune to drugs commonly used to treat them.

Related Summaries

A study that looked at tests from 300 U.S. labs found community-acquired MRSA made up 28.2% of resistant staph infections in 2006, up from 3.6% in 1999. Researchers also found that more than half of all staph cases seen at the labs serving hospitals are immune to drugs commonly used to treat them.

The House in Washington has approved a bill mandating that hospitals in the state create a system to identify patients with drug-resistant staph infections. The state Senate also cleared a similar bill that would require all hospitals to test all patients entering and leaving intensive care units for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

The House in Washington has approved a bill mandating that hospitals in the state create a system to identify patients with drug-resistant staph infections. The state Senate also cleared a similar bill that would require all hospitals to test all patients entering and leaving intensive care units for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

Dr. Julie Gerberding, the head of the CDC, says that drug-resistant staph is not airborne and should not cause panic. Close contact is needed for MRSA to affect people outside of hospitals, and the infection can be prevented with ordinary hygiene and hand-washing. It is not necessary for schools to close for cleaning, says Gerberding, and of the approximately 200 children who will be infected each year, most will be treated successfully.

The dangerous drug-resistant staph infection called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, once found only in hospitals or nursing homes, is raising concerns as a newer strain increasingly appears in the community. MRSA can cause infections in the young and the fit ranging from deadly bone poisoning to pneumonia, and few pharmaceutical companies have developed new medications to combat the infection.